Why Game of Thrones Is Even More Popular Than You Think

The fact that HBO’s Game of Thrones is a significant part of our pop-cultural landscape is undeniable. Most of you can rattle off at least a few House words and some of the more dedicated among you have even memorized the spelling of Targaryen. But Game of Thrones achieved new heights this past Sunday, when it became the most-watched HBO episode since The Sopranos finale. That makes some of the more dismissive, early reviews a particular joy to read. When the show premiered back in 2011, many were skeptical that the show would find a non-nerd audience. The New York Times sniffed,

Game of Thrones serves up a lot of confusion in the name of no larger or really relevant idea beyond sketchily fleshed-out notions
that war is ugly, families are insidious and power is hot. If you are
not averse to the Dungeons & Dragons aesthetic, the series might be
worth the effort. If you are nearly anyone else, you will hunger for
HBO to get back to the business of languages for which we already have
a dictionary.

Slate piled on, saying, “There is the sense of intricacy having been confused with intrigue and of a story transferred all too faithfully from its source and thus not transformed to meet the demands of the screen.” There’s wrong, and then there’s really wrong. Game of Thrones, it turns out, it not just for your friendly neighborhood Dungeon Master. It’s the kind of storytelling that has ensnared everyone.

The premiere garnered 6.6 million viewers during its 9 p.m. broadcast.
That's up 2.2 from last year's then-record 4.4 million premiere—and
up 900,000 from the latest record, 5.5 million, achieved in week six
of the third season. The episode now ranks as HBO's most watched
telecast since the 2007 series finale of The Sopranos.

The popularity of the fantasy TV show is spilling into other mediums as well. The most recent installment in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series (the basis for Game of Thrones) which came out only three months after the show premiered in 2011, saw unprecedented sales. Not bad for a nation that doesn’t read anymore. And not bad for the fantasy genre. I think it’s impossible, in this post Game of Thrones world, for even the snobbiest critic to look down their nose at dragons and castles.

Sure, popularity doesn’t always promise quality. But it’s impossible to deny that Game of Thrones has struck a chord that runs deep. We’ve come along way since the Wall Street Journal called Game of Thrones “infantile” and only grudgingly admitted that “it’s possible to see the basic appeal for role-players.” Turns out, it’s a bit bigger than that.

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